Here are reviews of 10 wines — one syrah, two sauvignon blancs, three chardonnays and four pinot noirs — that I tasted late in the afternoon of Monday, September 10, at the Holman Ranch in Monterey County’s Carmel Valley, a beautiful setting for trying mainly excellent wines. As usual in these Friday Wine Sips I forgo the technical data of history, geography, vineyard practices, winemaking and personalities in which I typically indulge for the sake of straightforward reviews of a more incisive nature. These producers — Dawn’s Dream, Cima Collina, Silvestri — are small in scale, each making between about 2,500 to 3,500 cases annually, but large in talent. Enjoy…
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Dawn’s Dream Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Carmel Valley, Monterey County. 13% alc. Very pale straw color but shimmering radiance; grapefruit, limestone and gunflint; jasmine and honeysuckle, pears and lemons, mildly herbal and grassy, subtle and supple but crisp and lively acidity with scintillating limestone minerality; finish is sleek, elegant, more spicy. Now through 2014. Excellent. About $24.
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Dawn’s Dream Chardonnay 2011, Arroyo Seco. 14.1% alc. Very attractive chardonnay in the spare, lithe fashion; very dry, bursting with cloves, ginger and quince, hints of grapefruit and pineapple; a floral element grows, twining itself around ripe fruit; mainly structure through, lots of stones and bones; finish falls a tad short. Drink through 2015 or ’16. Very Good+. About $24.
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Dawn’s Dream Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros. 14.1% alc. This will be the last Carneros pinot noir that Dawn Galante makes. Purple-magenta color; very spare, dry, almost sinewy, black and red currants and hints of cranberry and rhubarb permeated by cola and tobacco over layers of briers and brambles, underbrush, spicy oak and dry, brushy tannins; acid cuts a swath; nothing overdone, obvious or voluptuous but capturing the essential cool-climate character of the grape. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $24.
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Dawn’s Dream Alyssa Pinot Noir 2011, Santa Lucia Highlands. 14.1% alc. Entrancing light cherry-magenta color with a faint violet rim; rhubarb, pomegranate, sassafras, cloves; another dry, slightly foresty/slightly feral rendition, with a lean, keen graphite edge, plangent acidity and just a little too much oak on the finish, still quite enjoyable and a little challenging. Now through 2015 to ’17. Very Good+. About $24.
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Cima Collina Cedar Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Arroyo Seco, 14.7% alc. 320 cases. Pale straw-gold color; remarkably full-bodied, rich and spicy for an all stainless steel sauvignon blanc; scents and flavors of roasted lemons and spiced pears, hints of dried herbs and a slight tendency toward a grassy-meadowy character; quite dry yet juicy with macerated stone fruit flavors; brisk and bracing acidity, touch of sea-salt. Now through 2014. Excellent. About $16 and Worth a Search.
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Cima Collina Chula Vina Vineyard Chardonnay 2008, Monterey County. 14.4% alc. 318 cases. Big, bright and bold; perfectly balanced and integrated; seething with limestone and flint minerality and vibrant acidity yet bears itself with calmness and dignity; a great example of a chardonnay wine seamlessly segueing from youth to maturity; flavors of spicy yellow plums, quince, ginger and pineapple arrow through a finish supple with grapefruit and a hint of oak. Now through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $33.
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Cima Collina Tondre Grapefield Pinot Noir 2009, Santa Lucia Highlands. 14% alc. 325 cases. Enticing color of moderate ruby-mulberry with a tinge of violet-magenta at the rim; wow, what a perfect pinot noir, with exquisite balance, tone, harmony and elegance (and seductive spicy red and black currant and rhubarb flavors) yet supported by an almost rigorous structure of graphite-washed minerality; earthy, slightly mossy elements of underbrush, briers and brambles; and acidity the plows a row or two on the palate. Now through 2016 or ’17. Exceptional. About $48 and definitely Worth a Search for fans of SLH pinot noir from one of my favorite vineyards.
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Silvestri Vineyard “Bella Sandra” Chardonnay 2009, Carmel Valley. 14.1% alc. 968 cases. Despite the spicy, slightly vanilla-tinged oak in the background, this manages pleasing restraint and decorum in a subtle, supple package; embellished with burgeoning floral elements and limestone-shale minerality; roasted lemon, spiced pear flavors with hints of bright pineapple and grapefruit that extend through a mineral packed finish; fresh and vibrant at three years old. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $20, a Remarkable Value.
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Silvestri “Rising Tide” Pinot Noir 2009, Carmel Valley. 14.3% alc. 1420 cases. Dark ruby-magenta color; red and black currants and plums, mocha and sassafras, touch of cranberry; foresty briers and brambles, rooty and minerally, very dry, resonant almost resolute acidity; close to sleek above the touch of robust rusticity, and you feel the oak a bit in the finish. Try from 2013 or ’14 through 2017 to ’19. Very Good+. About $32.
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Silvestri Syrah 2009, Carmel Valley. 14.5% alc. 200 cases. Dark ruby-purple with a motor-oil black center; very pure and intense, riveting graphite-like minerality that bursts through lavender, licorice and leather, blackberries, blueberries and plums; slightly fleshy and meaty with a touch of wet dog and black pepper, all wrapped around a core of dry, grainy tannins and bitter chocolate. If this is what people can do with syrah in Carmel, they ought to plant more. Now through 2017 to ’19. Excellent. About $18, and they’re practically giving it away.
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Driving up and up a twisting dirt track toward the Chalone winery, nothing in the steep, sere hillsides, lying arid and exposed to the glaring sun that reigns over this realm of dust and chaparral, could convince you that the landscape and climate are anything like Burgundy. Yet from this improbable parched landscape, some 1800 feet up the Gavilan range, high over the city of Soledad and just under the Pinnacles National Monument, emerges some of the best (and at times controversial) chardonnay and pinot noir wines in California, as well as pinot blanc and chenin blanc, the latter from a vineyard planted in 1919, the oldest in Monterey County. (This image looks down on Chalone from the hills above.)

That vineyard was planted by F.W. Silvear, who after the end of Prohibition sold grapes to Almaden and Wente and made a little wine of his own. He died in 1957, and the property went through various changes of name and ownership until Richard Graff, a Navy veteran with a degree in music from Harvard, bought the insolvent company, with investment from his mother, in 1965. After a great deal of trial and error, the first wines were produced in 1969. Graff was fascinated by Burgundian methods, and he introduced to California the concepts of barrel fermentation and malolactic fermentation for white wines. It wasn’t easy making wine at Chalone. The winery was a former chicken coop that held 40 barrels. The property had no electricity, water or telephone service until the early 1980s; water for irrigation had to be trucked in from Soledad, and at night oil lamps came into service. A “real” winery was constructed in 1982, but it’s more easily described as a facility than a winery; no fancy digs here, no beautiful building designed by a famous architecture, the Chalone winery consists of serviceable offices, metal sheds and tanks. That former chicken coop/winery (see accompanying image) now holds the library of Chalone’s past vintages, a collection that can make visitors downright giddy.

In 1972, Phil Woodward resigned from the accounting firm Touche Ross and joined Chalone Vineyard as vice president of finance, a position that allowed him to take over all marketing and financial matters and to bring in a group of investors and much-needed cash. Graff and Woodward shared a vision that included maintaining Chalone as a fairly small producer but expanding the company through partnerships or through the creation of new wineries in other regions of the state. Thus came about the establishment of Edna Valley Vineyard winery in San Luis Obispo County, the Carmenet winery — since 2009 a brand for cheap wines from Fred Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co. — and Canoe Ridge in Washington and the acquisition of Acacia and Jade Mountain and Staton Hills (in Washington), renamed Sagelands Vineyard. Chalone made an initial stock offering in 1984, the first California winery to go public. The Chalone Wine Group was purchased in 2005 by beverage giant Diageo, though as Robert Cook, Chalone winemaker since 2007, said, “They take care of the books. We take care of the wine.”

Dick Graff was killed in 1998, when his single-engine Cessna went down near the town of Salinas.

The Chalone American Vitacultural Area was approved in 1982, the first AVA in Monterey County, as Chalone was its first bonded winery. Though the region now contains seven vineyards, it has only one winery, Chalone itself. As long ago as the 1890s, when Frenchman Maurice Tamm planted vines in the declivities of these long, dry slopes, the area’s unique properties — its deep calcareous soils and its paucity of rainfall, about 14 inches a year — were recognized for the demands they would make on vines to work hard for nourishment and for the element of minerality the soil contributes to the wine.
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Here are the wines we tasted, under a blue sky and bright sun, on Wednesday, September 12:
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Sometimes I taste a wine that’s so immediately pleasing and pretty, so tasty and satisfying, while not necessarily inspiring contemplation or awe, that I quickly want to let My Readers know about it. Such a wine is the Noble Vines 667 Pinot Noir 2010, Monterey County, a product of DFV Wines, operated by the third generation of the Indelicato family, whose patriarch, Italian immigrant Gasparé Indelicato, planted vines in Monterey County in 1924. After selling grapes for a decade, the family first made wine — about 1,500 cases — in 1935. Known primarily for the Delicato label, the family also produces a variety of wines under other labels, including Gnarly Head, Twisted, Irony, Brazin, Domino, Loredona, Fog Head and Noble Vines.

The Noble Vines 667 Pinot Noir 2010 bursts from the glass in a welter of fresh raspberries and cranberries, with notes of rhubarb and pomegranate, rose petals, cloves and cola; I mean, it wakes up your nose and then soothes it. In the mouth, the wine is dry, lithe, almost sinewy, sheerly cut with vibrant acidity that lays a path yet swathed in lightness and delicacy and a moderately satiny texture. From mid-palate back through the finish, gaining on the mildly spicy red and blue fruit flavors, elements of briers and brambles, graphite and potpourri pack the finish. 10,000 cases made, so there’s plenty around. Drink this uncomplicated but attractive pinot noir through 2014 with grilled salmon, roasted veal and light pasta dishes. Very Good+. About $15.

Tasted in the old wine cellar at Mission San Antonio de Padua, San Antonio Valley, Monterey County.

So, it’s a beautiful mild Saturday afternoon in Memphis, Tennessee, after a wild night of high winds and thunderstorms, so it must be time for the “Friday Wine Sips,” today focusing on groups of pinot noir wines from Laetitia Estate, MacPhail Family Wines, Donum Estate and Sanford. Locations range from the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County to Arroyo Grande Valley in San Luis Obispo to Anderson Valley in Mendocino. As usual, I eschew the typical reams of technical, historical and geographical info — interesting though I find that stuff — for the sake of brevity and insight. These wines were samples for review.
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Laetitia Estate Pinot Noir 2010, Arroyo Grande Valley. 14.1% alc. Intense medium ruby color; classic nose: black and red cherries, cranberry and rhubarb, cola and loam; wonderful balance and integration; super satiny texture; woody spice and briers and brambles at the circumference while the interior glows with cherry and blueberry flavors with potpourri and bitter chocolate; draws elemental earthiness and oak from the fringe and gathers them for a more somber, slightly austere finish. Through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $25, representing Great Value.
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Laetitia Reserve du Domaine Pinot Noir 2010, Arroyo Grande Valley. 14.3% alc. Deeper, darker, a little more concentrated in every sense than its cousin mentioned above; the structure more evident but still suave, smooth and satiny, a lovely drape on the tongue; slightly fleshy (not quite meaty), lip-smacking acidity cuts a swath; wonderful weight, presence and tone; elegance with fundamental power. Through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $40.
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MacPhail Family Wines Sangiacomo Vineyards Pinot Noir 2009, Sonoma Coast. 14.3% alc. The Hess Collection acquired the MacPhail in 2011. Medium ruby-cranberry color; unusually ripe, fleshy and meaty for pinot noir; spiced and macerated black and red currants, cherries and plums; lush and satiny but bracing with vibrant acidity; prominent graphite/underbrush quality, dense and chewy, a little feral; you feel the polished oak and slightly muscular tannins through the finish. 325 cases. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $49.
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MacPhail Wildcat Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009, Sonoma Coast. 14.3% alc. Medium ruby color; very spicy, fleshy and meaty; spiced and macerated red and black currants, plums and cranberries, touch of rhubarb and pomegranate, smoke and tobacco, a hint of spiced apple; super-satiny, almost voluptuous, oak and tannin come through from mid-palate back asserting some control but this doesn’t have quite the balance or integration of the other two. 325 cases. Now through 2014 or ’15. Very Good+. About $49.
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MacPhail Frattery Shams Vineyard PInot Noir 2009, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County. 14.3% alc. More black and blue fruit and more blue/magenta to the color; not so flamboyantly ripe, fleshy and florid, more graphite and earthy minerality and more balanced structure; hints of sassafras and cloves, candied apple; lovely, lithe, bright and clean. Delightful with an undercurrent of seriousness. 200 cases. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $49.
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Donum Estate Grown Pinot Noir 2009, Russian River Valley. 14.4% alc. Not feeling the pinot love or the complex layering that I should here; perhaps this needs a year or two to meld; the nose is gorgeous, offering the full spectrum of spice, flowers, fruit and minerals, but you feel the oak as rather ostentatious on the palate and the finish is a little hot. Try from 2013 to 2015 or ’16. Very Good+. About $65.
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Donum Estate Grown West Slope Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros. 14.4% alc. Dark ruby color; initially nicely balanced among barnyard earthiness, oak, bright acidity and mildly dense tannins; black and blue fruit flavors; the oak element grows more prominent after 20 or 30 minutes and especially in the finish to which it brings a touch of astringency, as the tannins add a dry, dusty, brambly quality; still, there’s that billowing satiny texture. Best from 2013 or ’14 through 2016 to ’18. Very Good+. About $85.
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Donum Estate Grown Thomas Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros. 14.4% alc. Best of this Donum Estate trio. Dark to moderate ruby color; sour cherry, cranberry and blueberry, hints of root beer, cloves and rhubarb; the most perfectly balanced of these three with a seductive satin drapery texture made a little rigorous by deep slatey minerality, scintillating acidity and smooth but slightly earthy tannins; altogether reticent, subdued, supple and subtle, with gratifying detail and dimension. Try from 2014 or ’15 through 2018 to 2020. Excellent. About $100.
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Sanford Pinot Noir 2008, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County. 14.5% alc. This is a blend of the Sanford & Benedict and La Rinconada vineyards. Vibrant and radiant medium to dark ruby color; cranberry, cola, red cherries and cloves, hint of brown sugar; full-bodied, a sinewy, muscular style with a measure of grace and elegance and a lovely satiny texture; takes a few minutes in the glass for all elements to cohere but structure comes through resolutely. Quite beautiful. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $40
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Sanford Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008, Santa Rita Hills. 14.5% alc. Medium ruby with a darker ruby/magenta core; black cherry, beetroot, rhubarb, briers and brambles; a lot of power and structure but true to the grape; succulent but just enough spareness and litheness not to be obvious or opulent. Another beauty. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $60.
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Sanford & Benedict La Rinconada Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008, Santa Rita Hills. 14.6% alc. Dark ruby shading to a medium ruby/violet rim; robust, muscular, powerful, viscous; dense and chewy; dark spicy slightly stewed black and red fruit flavors; this is where pinot noir walks on the wild side; you feel the alcohol a bit in the slightly hot finish. I’d like to try this one in a year or two. Very Good+. About $54.
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One of the interesting aspects of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine region is that few vineyards are planted on the valley floor, because the soil is too good, too rich, dense with the nutrients of ancient floods and river deposits. The vineyards tend to be planted on the hillsides, above 200 feet, where the soil composition is more spare and more demanding and requires the vines to work for their nourishment. This phenomenon is true of Burgundy, for example, where the best vineyards, the Premier and Grand Crus, are planted in the mid-range of the southeast facing slopes; lower and higher are the vineyards that produce the more generic “village” wines. Of course Willamette and Burgundy also share a red grape, the noble pinot noir. Anyway, several of the Willamette’s sub-appellations include the designations “hills” in their titles, such as Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills, and it’s from Dundee that today’s Wine of the Week originates.

The Sokol-Blosser Pinot Noir 2009, Dundee Hills, Oregon, is an organically-produced wine that contains 87 percent estate grapes. The winery was founded by Oregon pioneers Bill Blosser and Susan Sokol Blosser in 1971, when grapes were quite new to Willamette Valley; they were preceded by Dick Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards in 1965 and Dick Erath in 1967. Sokol Blosser in now run by siblings Alison and Alex Sokol Blosser; winemaker since 1998 has been Russ Rosner. The Sokol-Blosser Pinot Noir 2009 aged in French oak for 16 months in 44 percent new barrels. The color is a lovely ruby-mulberry hue, with a rim just tinged with violet. The whole package displays exquisite poise and balance, though as is typical with Dundee pinot noirs the wine emphasizes a distinct earthy, loamy character that begins with briers and brambles and ends with deeper inflections of graphite and truffles. Red and black cherries and plums with a slight tang of red currants and cranberries are woven with notes of cola and cloves and a smoky back-note. Tannins are grainy and modulated but with enough bark and bite to let you know they’re right there at the threshold. The texture is smooth, dense and satiny. 14 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2017 to ’19. Excellent. About $38.

A sample for review.

The Yamhill-Carlton District was granted status as an American Viticultural Area in 2004, though its history as a grape-growing and winemaking region goes back to 1974, when the pioneering Pat and Joe Campbell founded Elk Cove Vineyards. The area, in the northern stretch of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, is now home to 34 wineries and some 60 vineyards that cultivate about 1200 acres of vines. Set into a rough horseshoe-shaped amphitheater of ragged hills (and centered around the two hamlets of its name), Yamhill-Carlton, the yelow area on the accompanying map, features ancient marine sedimentary soils that are among the oldest in Willamette Valley and that drain quickly, a necessary aspect for successful grape-growing. The rules of the AVA stipulate that vineyards must be planted between 200 and 1000 feet above sea level.

One of the youngest of the wineries in Yamhill-Carlton is Lenné Estate, started in 2000 by Steve and Karen Lutz, who found an old pasture that year, near the town of Yamhill, and decided, because of its exposure, soil and drainage, that it would be perfect for growing pinot noir vines. The soil is called peavine, described in official surveys as “poor, shallow and gravelly,” meaning that vines have to sing for their suppers if they’re going to find the proper nutrients deep in the bedrock. All the wines produced at Lenné derive from this 20.9-acre vineyard.

Bloggers and other wine industry people attending the Wine Bloggers Conference this week in Portland should know that Steve Lutz will be pouring the three wines that I review here at the opening reception Thursday night. These were samples for review. Map from winesofwoi.com.
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Lenné Estate Karen’s Pommard Pinot Noir 2010, Yamhill-Carlton District, Willamette Valley. The wine, a selection of the best barrels from the vineyard’s Pommard blocks, is named after Steve Lutz’s wife. The color is an enchanting limpid, almost transparent medium ruby; aromas of smoky black and red cherries with touches of plum and mulberry are bolstered by notes of clean earth and loam and just a hint of graphite and bittersweet chocolate. The wine aged 11 months in French oak, 66 percent new barrels. The emphasis now lies with the stones and bones of structure in the realms of vibrant acidity, supple oak, moderately dense tannins and a pretty profound granitic-loamy mineral quality, but fear not, because the wine still feels succulent and satiny, spicy and paradoxically ethereal. The finish is dry, a little mossy and brambly, a touch austere. 14 percent alcohol. Production was 125 cases. Best from 2013 or ’14 through 2018 to 2020. Excellent. About $55.
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Lenné Estate Pinot Noir 2009, Yamhill-Carlton District, Willamette Valley. The wine aged 11 months in French oak, 35 percent new barrels. The hue is medium ruby with a shading of scarlet fading into garnet. Seductive and exotic aromas of sandalwood and cloves, violets and rose petals and potpourri are woven with roasted plums and a hint of fruitcake. A product of an unseasonably hot year, this 2009 is intense and concentrated, deeply flavored with a combination of spiced and macerated cherries and plums with dried cherries and cranberries; there are distinct backnotes of the Willamette Valley’s characteristic loamy influence, as well as a bit of spice cake and mocha. The whole package is beautifully balanced and integrated, though the wine is fairly dense and chewy, and the finish flushes out dry and a little austere. 14.8 percent alcohol. Production was 450 cases. Best from 2013 through 2017 to ’19. Excellent. About $45.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lenné Estate Pinot Noir 2008, Yamhill-Carlton District, Willamette Valley. Again 11 months in French oak, only 30 percent new barrels. The color is medium ruby with a slight garnet-mulberry hue at the rim. The nose is clean and fresh, engaging and appealing, yet with a serious iodine and iron edge highlighted by earthy briery and brambly elements; curiously, you feel the wood a bit more in this wine than in its cousins from 2009 and ’10, yet give it a few minutes in the glass, and it conjures notes of cloves and sassafras, rose petals and violets, spiced and macerated red and black cherries and plums, characteristics that segue smoothly onto the palate. The texture is platonically satiny and sensuous, but the wine is no kissy-face crowd-pleaser; rather, it drapes that texture around a structure deeply infused by essential acidity and the loamy, gravel-like minerality that ties all these wines to each other and to their birthplace. I wanted to weep because I didn’t have a roasted Cornish hen with which to drink this pinot noir. 14 percent alcohol. 491 cases. Now through 2016 to ’18. Excellent. About $55.
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Sorry that I produced no “Friday Wine Sips” last week, but here we are again and on a Friday as it should be. Eclecticism reigns, with three versions of pinot gris/grigio, a sauvignon blanc from Washington and an albariño from California’s Central Coast. For reds, there a blend dominated by syrah from Paso Robles, an “international” blend from Tuscany and a pure and intense pinot noir from Anderson Valley. No geeky technical information here, just blitzkrieg reviews designed to take no prisoners on the way to your hearts and minds and palates. There’s a quibble here and there but mainly these are all attractive wines. These were samples for review.
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Bivio Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2001, Italy. 12.5% alc. Pale gold color; almond, sea-salt, roasted lemon and thyme; clean, vibrant acidity, heaps of limestone-like minerality; spiced pear, citrus, touch of jasmine; very dry, fairly stony finish, which falls a tad short. Still, quite enjoyable. Very Good. About $14.
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Barrymore Pinot Grigio delle Venezia 2011, Italy. 12% alc. Barrymore as in Drew. Very crisp and lively, powerful limestone and flint elements, very stony and austere; pushes the elegance and spareness at the expense of fruit, spice and floral aspects that would soften acidity and minerality. Very Good. About $17.
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Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris 2010, Alsace, France. 13.5% alc. Pale gold color; very attractive tone and presence, smells good, feels good, tastes good; spiced pears, cloves and clover, quince and a hint of crystallized ginger; a golden wine, almost honeyed but quite dry, loaded with limestone and flint, but nothing bleak or austere. Now through 2014. Excellent. About $22.
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Cadaretta SBS 2011, Columbia Valley, Washington State. 13.1% alc. Sauvignon blanc 76%, semillon 24%. Graceful, balanced, restrained; both scintillating and elegant, almost spare; spiced lemon and pear, thyme and tarragon, hint of leafy fig, notes of jasmine and honeysuckle; very attractive texture, lushness modulated by crisp acidity and an urgent limestone element; long, drawn-out, spicy finish, wrapped up by a touch of bracing grapefruit bitterness. Now through 2013 or ’14. Excellent. About $23, and Worth a Search.
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Bonny Doon Vineyard Albariño 2011, Central Coast, California. 13.2% alc. Gosh, what a treat. Pale straw color, faint green highlights; so deftly polished, balanced and harmonious; roasted lemon and lemon balm, hints of verbena, jasmine, yellow plums and an invigorating breeze-borne sea-salt element; practically shimmers with resonant acidity and a clean limestone-shale element. Now through 2013 or ’14. 527 cases and one wishes there were more. Excellent. About $18, a Definite Bargain.
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Clayhouse Syrah 2010, Paso Robles, California. 13.5% alc. 77% syrah, 23% petite sirah. Medium to dark ruby color with a tinge of blue; black and red currants and plums, pepper, black olives, lavender and a hint of black licorice; heaps of earthy briers and brambles, dry, dusty and slightly leathery tannins but tasty red and black fruit flavors wrapped around tar and potpourri; medium-length finish. Now through 2014. Very Good+. About $15, representing Real Value.
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Tenuta di Biserno Insoglio del cinghiale 2010, Toscana, Italy. 14% alc. Cabernet franc 33%, syrah 32%, merlot 30%, petit verdot 5%. Smooth, burnished and polished, suave and elegant but plenty of earthy, loamy structure; plums, black currants and cherries, graphite, lavender, potpourri; touch of what the French call garrigue, implying the scent of warm, dusty, slightly resinous wild herbs; a bit velvety but buttressed by vibrant acidity and agreeable tannins. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $32.
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Champ de Rêves Pinot Noir 2010, Anderson Valley, California. 14.5% alc. Entrancing medium ruby-violet color; cranberry, black cherry, hints of rhubarb and pomegranate, cloves and sassafras; lovely satiny texture, almost lush but with the essential acidity to lend cut to the palate; smoky black cherry and red currant flavors; supple, spicy oak in the background. Very seductive. Through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $40.
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We are so damned eclectic here where our heads are bigger. Today, on this Saturday of the “Friday Wine Sips,” we gotcher rosé (er, not a great one, sorry), we gotcher sparkling wines, we gotcher white wines and we gotcher red wines. Your life will be complete. The countries represented are Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. (Remember, by the way, that all reports in the “Friday Wine Sips” are not favorable; we applaud for, and we warn against.) As for grapes, well, we offer verdejo, vermentino, pinot blanc, pinot auxerrois, chardonnay and riesling; we offer tempranillo, syrah, mourvèdre, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and a host of grapes that typically grow in the Douro Valley. What we don’t offer is much in the way of technical, historical, personal and geographical material; instead, these are quick reviews, some transcribed directly from my notes, others expanded a bit, and designed to be a rapid infusion of knowledge and direction. So, seek out, try, taste and enjoy, where I have recommended that you do so; for a few others, um, just avoid. These wines were samples for review. The order is rosé, white, sparkling and red.
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Valdelosfrailes Rosé 2011, Cubillas de Santa Marta, Cigales, Spain. 13.5% alc. Tempranillo 80%, verdejo 20%. Bright cherry-crimson color; pungent, pert, perky, strawberry and dried currants, hint of pomegranate, dried herbs and limestone; very dry, lip-smacking acidity and viscosity, austere finish. Doesn’t quite hold together. Good+. About $10.
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Emina Verdejo 2010, Medina del Campo, Rueda, Spain. 13% alc. 100% verdejo grapes. A confirmation of the theory that delicate, fruity white wines should be consumed before they lose their freshness. Not recommended. About $10.
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Prelius Vermentino 2010, Maremma, Toscana, Italy. 12.5% alc. Probably delightful last year but overstayed its welcome. Only in a pinch. About $15.
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Domaine Roland Schmitt Pinot Blanc 2010, Alsace, France 12.5% alc. Pale straw-gold color; lovely, soft but lithe, very clean and fresh, quite spicy; apples, lemons, pears, touch of yellow plum; vibrant acidity keeps it lively and appealing, while a few minutes in the glass pull up notes of jasmine and limestone. Now through 2014. Very Good+. About $16.
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Domaine Mittnacht Freres Terre d’Etoiles Pinot Blanc 2011, Alsace, France. 12% alc. Pinot auxerrois 60%, pinot blanc 40% (can that be right and still be labeled pinot blanc?) Pale straw-yellow, like Rapunzel’s hair; entrancing aromas of camellia and jasmine, spiced pear and roasted lemon, quince and ginger; very dry, resolutely crisp, yet with such an attractive texture and balance, a sense of soft ripeness and sinewy limestone elements. Very stylish. Now through 2014 or ’15, well-stored. Excellent. About $19, Fine Quality for the Price.
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Dr. Hermann Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2009, Mosel, Germany. 8.5% alc. Pale, pale gold; lychee and petrol, pear and pear nectar, lime peel and quince preserves, hint of jasmine, just deliriously attractive; but very dry, formidably crisp and steely; then a dramatic shift to apples, apples and more apples; the entry is quite ripely, kssingly sweet but resonant acidity and scintillating limestone-like minerality turn the wine dry yet still delicate from mid-palate through the finish. Now through 2015 to ’18. Excellent. About $23, Get It! .
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Antech Émotion 2009, Crémant de Limoux, France. 12% alc. Chardonnay 70%, chenin blanc 18%, mauzac 10%, pinot noir 2%. Pale copper-onion skin color; a fetching froth of tiny bubbles; apples, strawberries, lime peel, steel and limestone; touches of smoke and red and black currants, almost subliminal; orange zest; so damned pretty and charming; very dry finish. Very Good+. About $18, a True Bargain.
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Sekthaus Raumland Cuvée Marie-Luise Blanc de Noirs Brut 2008, Germany. 12% alc. 100% pinot noir. Pale gold; a constant stream of glinting silver bubbles; stimulating bouquet of roasted lemons and lemon curd, toasted hazelnuts, tropical back-notes, sea-breeze and salt-marsh, both generous and chastening; very dry, high-toned and elegant, lots of steel and limestone; yet that intriguing tropical element and a muted hint of leafy currant at the core. Really lovely. Excellent. About $45.
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Dow Vale do Bomfim 2009, Douro, Portugal. 14% alc. Tinta barroca 30%, touriga franca 25%, touriga nacional 25%, tinto roriz 15%, tinto cao 5%. Color is dark ruby; ripe and fleshy, warm and spicy; intense and concentrated black and red currants, plums and blueberries; heaps of briers and brambles and underbrush, coats the mouth with fine-grained tannins; lots of personality brought up short by a dusty, leathery finish. Drink through the end of 2012 with burgers. Very Good+. About $12.
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Prelius Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy. 14% alc. Dark ruby-mulberry color; spicy, tightly wound, chewy, mouth-coating tannins; black currants and plums, very spicy; decent basic cabernet with an earthy, astringent finish. Very Good. About $15.
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Chateau La Roque “Cuvée les Vielles Vignes de Mourvèdre” 2006, Pic Saint Loup, Coteaux du Languedoc, France. 13.5% alc. With 10% grenache. Deep purple with a tinge of magenta; lovely, lively, lots of tone and personality; dense and chewy, intensely spicy, exotic, ripe and fleshy but a slightly hard edge of graphite and walnut shell; plums, plums and more plums, hint of fruitcake (the spices, the nuts, the brandied fruit); a dry finish with earth, leather and wood. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $20, and definitely Worth a Search.
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Pierre Gaillard Domaine Cottebrune Transhumance 2007, Faugeres, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. 14.5% alc. Syrah 50%, grenache 40%, mourvèdre 10%. Dark ruby color; ripe, fleshy and meaty black and blue fruit scents and flavors, spiced and macerated; nothing shy here, huge presence, plenty of oak and lipsmacking tannins that pack the mouth, but succulent too, deep and flavorful; sea salt, iron and iodine, a whiff of the decadent but a decent heart. Put yourself in its hands. Now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $22.
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Born in 1948, Pierre Morey has had an illustrious career in Burgundy — and specifically in the white wine commune of Meursault — that even older, more venerable figures might envy. The family’s heritage in Meursault goes back to the late 18th Century, though the modern history begins in 1937, when August Morey-Genelot, a traveling salesman, was persuaded to return to his family’s roots and take over the domaine, which he ran until 1972, when the young Pierre Morey took over. August had established a relationship en métayage with the estimable Domaine des Comte Lafon, which is to say, a system similar to sharecropping that in the wine world is practically unique to Burgundy. Pierre Morey inherited this arrangement, but, as Clive Coates writes, it “evaporated piece by piece from 1987 onwards as Dominique Lafon took his patrimony back, and has now ceased.” To gain access to Premier and Grand Cru vineyards, in 1990 Morey and his wife Christine founded a negociant company called Morey-Blanc, for which he buys grapes and must (moût in French), that is, the mass of material that comes from the crusher before fermentation takes place; the must includes juice, fragments of stems and seeds, skins and pulp. In addition to running the domaine and the negociant side, Morey was until recently the winemaker for Domaine Leflaive.

Domaine Pierre Morey began using organic methods in 1992 and went to biodynamic practices in 1997. Notice how the principles of biodynamism are described on the domaine’s website:

Respect of the vineyards : Soil work and addition of compost favor the development of the microbial life of the soils and improve the defenses and the health of the vines. The vines become more resistant to the different parasites and diseases. We only use very low doses of products, totally natural, when the time is right.

Respect of the fruit : Carefully looked after during their whole life, healthy and ripe, harvested by hand, the fruit is taken to the place where the winemaking is done : in old, vaulted, Burgundian cellars where the natural yeasts from the vineyard promote the fermentation process.

One does not have to subscribe to the philosophy of biodynamism to agree with the sentiments expressed here. Who would not want to show respect to the vineyards and the fruit the vineyards produce? Who would not want to want to work carefully and thoughtfully in the vineyard and the winery, to keep the soil, the vines and the grapes healthy? (Well, maybe plenty of people, but you know what I mean, people with integrity.) In any case, Pierre Morey is a meticulous farmer and winemaker, and he makes wines of great authority and principle (as well as being often delicious), as you will see from my notes about five of them. Morey, by the way, is sparing with new oak, using only about 25 percent new oak each year.

This is the last post about Burgundy wines tasted at the “Return to Terroir” event that occurred in New York at the end of February. Image of Pierre Morey from bibendum-times.co.uk The wines of Domaine Pierre Morey are imported by Martin Scott, Lake Success, N.Y.
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Domaine Pierre Morey Bourgogne Aligoté 2009. This pale straw-gold wine is very pert, bright, spicy and lemony, and it displays that sense of racy tension and nervosity that we want from the aligoté grape, composed of whiplash acidity and scintillating limestone minerality, but nicely balanced by lemon, grapefruit and lime peel flavors slightly enriched by touches of lemon balm and cloves. Bring on the oysters, please, bracing and briny in the shell! 12.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2013. Very Good+. About $17 and well-worth the price.
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Domaine Pierre Morey Meursault 2009. The domaine owns 0.86 hectares (about 2.14 acres) of vines, in portions of three well-placed vineyards, in the village of Meursault, well-placed meaning in proximity to Premier Cru vineyards; Morey “village” Meursault is usually a blend of grapes from the three vineyards. Average age of these vines is 29 years. The wine, sporting a radiant mild gold color, offers lovely depth, breadth and balance, cleaved with a kind of clean animation and energy poised with the moderate richness of spicy citrus and stone-fruit scents and flavors. The Pierre Morey Meursault 09 is very dry but juicy and flavorful and delivers a range of nuances from jasmine and honeysuckle in the bouquet to limestone and flint in the long finish. 12.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $75.
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Domaine Pierre Morey Meursault Les Tessons 2007. That’s right, 2007, a stressful vintage in Burgundy, generally
regarded as better for whites than reds, though elegance can be found in both. In any case Morey turned out an intense and pure expression of the chardonnay grape from 0.89 hectares of Les Tessons, largely planted in 1975; this is a very stony vineyard just above the village of Meursault. The wine is quite floral and spicy — whiffs of camellia and cloves — and deeply imbued with lemon, grapefruit and pear flavors supported by earthy, limestone-like minerality and, in the distance, an almost tea-like quality. There’s a sheen of oak, mostly subdued, that adds to the smooth suave texture and the abundantly flinty, spicy, slightly briny finish. 12.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2016 or ’17. Excellent. About $86.
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Domaine Pierre Morey Monthelie 2009. The pinot noir grapes for Morey’s Monthelie derive from 1.32 hectares of vines in six lieux-dits, that is, traditional local vineyards below the Premier Cru level. The average age of the vines is 48 years. Monthelie is sandwiched between Volnay on the east and Auxey-Duresses on the west. The (let’s admit it) not very important commune, which surprisingly has 11 Premier Cru vineyards, produces far more red wine than white. Pierre Morey’s Monthelie 2009 is clean, bright and appealing, with sprightly black cherry and red currant flavors, loads of spice and slightly earthy graphite elements, and vibrant acidity that cuts a row on the palate. The finish brings in touches of leather, brambles and slightly mossy forest elements. Quite attractive and drinkable, now through 2014 or ’15. I’m thinking roasted chicken or rabbit fricassee. Very Good+. About $35.
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Domaine Pierre Morey Pommard Grands Epenots Premier Cru 2009. Morey owns 0.43 hectares — a hair over one acre — of this 10.15-hectare Premier Cru vineyard. (There is also a Petits Epenots vineyard, which is, paradoxically, about five hectares bigger than Grand Epenots.) The commune of Pommard, with its 28 Premier Cru vineyards, is a few minutes drive south of the city of Beaune. Well, damnit, this is great. The wine is characterized by terrific heft, intensity and concentration, though it’s ultimately elegant and harmonious. The color is medium dark ruby; it takes a couple of minutes for the bouquet to open with notes of ripe and fleshy black cherries, red currants and plums permeated by hints of rose petals, graphite and leather. Smooth and polished tannins bolster earthy and spicy black and red fruit flavors ensconced in a supple, satiny texture whose sense of luxury is rigorously tempered by resolute acidity and a slightly lithic or iron-like element of minerality. The point is the balance and integration among all these qualities. 13 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2019 to ’21. Excellent. About $85.
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It was a casual Friday night. We had been to an art exhibition opening and were home again about to watch the last episode of The Borgias on DVD– it’s like The Sopranos set in late 15th Century Rome but better — and LL said, “Let’s do something with eggs,” and faster than you could say “La plume de ma tante” we had a beautiful salade Lyonnaise. My assignment was poaching the eggs. (Also with bacon, green beans, little potatoes, pieces of ripe tomato on a bed of baby kale, doused with a vinaigrette.) Ah, but what to drink with the notoriously hard-to-match-with-wine eggs? No problem, as waiters say incessantly today, a classic, dry rosé, but one made from grapes grown in California’s Los Carneros region.

The Robert Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir 2011, Los Carneros, is a true vin gris (“grey wine”) color, a light, slightly copperish onion skin hue. The wine is not made by bleeding off juice from the crushing of red grapes; this one is whole-cluster pressed, carefully, and then taken off the skins to leave that pale pigmentation. This is, I’ll assert right out loud, a world-class rosé, not just spicy but savory, not just fruity but flavorful, not sweet at all but bone-dry and yet almost luscious in texture. Aromas of dried red currants and raspberries are woven with hints of orange rind, camellia, limestone and a sort of dusty slate aspect; a few minutes in the glass bring in an intriguing grassy/dried thyme note. In the mouth, you feels layers of complexity, red fruit, of course, but touches of rhubarb, beet-root and peach skin, cloves, warm stones, the lithic edge of slate and a citric tang to the scintillating acidity. Immensely attractive and pleasurable, a rosé with an unusual marriage of energy and elegance, and a great drink with the salade Lyonnaise. 13.8 percent alcohol. Now through summer 2013. Excellent. About $28; I paid $30 locally. Very limited production, so mark this Worth a Search.

Wine image from robertsinskey.com.